How does one learn about a place's history? Historian and naturalist Jack Nisbet looks to the relics of a region to connect the present to the distant past. In the vast western territory defined by the Columbia River, Nisbet tracks the stories and meaning of relics such as a trilobite fossil, the nearly extinct California condor, and more. Together, these stories comprise an original, hybrid history that connects nature with human endeavor, geography with the passage of time.